NEW YORK—A bill aimed to limit the effects of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Hobby Lobby case will be proposed in Albany, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and State Senate Democratic Conference Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins announced Thursday.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby currently allows some companies to drop contraceptive coverage from its employee insurance plans.
Schneiderman’s bill, called the Reproductive Rights Disclosure Act, would require employers to give employees 90 days notice before changing contraceptive coverage. Under the proposed bill, employers must also tell prospective employees the specifics of its contraceptive coverage policy.
If contraception coverage is dropped, employers must notify the New York State Department of Labor, the Department of Financial Services, and the state attorney general’s office. The bill requires a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for each violation of the new provisions.
A similar bill called the “Boss Bill,” which prevents employers from discriminating against their workers’ health care decisions, was passed on June 18 in the New York Assembly.
